Now the
stars settle into
constellation shape
and we see where we are
in terms of association leading
to further association
(cannot say that the apple —
if apple it was — was,
even as it spoke,
totally devoid
of connotation)

now time is a behind that is always lost
and if they will say
that a fiery angel was guarding
the gate (suddenly
borders, suddenly gates)

we shall
buy that, take
at face value, accept
It was never worth the trouble
to check, turn
like weather, bother to look back.

ah, I get it
all those little legs are there
to give us mind
for metaphor: so many
steel beetles going head
to head here, exchanging
messages against whose
red-hot news
there is no armour

flesh, metal, plastics
fused: it is a searing chemistry
we should not call alchemy
but chemistry too of
most magical
kind in how that body
envelops itself, becomes
the biological
stew it
has already thought through
sprouts wings: as if
cathedral glass, delicate
as
tapestry, works of
art, but

we were quick on the uptake, ready
to take to the air too

rockets stowed, most gyro-
guided, a strategic fleet
the likes of
which the world has
not yet seen, will
not see: case in point about
blinding light and
everything